‘Strawberry Fields’ deutzia

‘Strawberry Fields’ deutzia and mourning widow geranium. (Photo by Brendan Zwelling)

I’m a big fan of the familiar spring-blooming slender deutzia (40 in. x 5 ft. / 1 x 1.5 m, Zone 5), sometimes known as Japanese snow flower. It’s an exuberant bloomer in full sun to part shade with gleaming with white flowers packed on slender arching branches that look like a frothy mass of Victorian petticoats. It’s useful for blending into shrub borders, associating with dark yew and cedar hedges, or placing in the corner of a small garden.

There are many species and cultivars of deutzia, and among them are several pink variations that bloom in early summer (and not quite as cold hardy as the slender deutzia).

One you might see is ‘Mont Rose’ (D. x hybrida ‘Mont Rose’, 40 in. x 5 ft. / 1 m x 1.5 m, Zone 6) with panicles of light pink flowers. Another is Pink-A-Boo deutzia (D. x ‘Monzia’, 7 x 5 ft. / 2 m x 1.5 m, Zone 6) with purple-pink and white flowers. Blooming in my garden this week is another pink selection, ‘Strawberry Fields’ (D. x hybrida ‘Strawberry Fields’, 5 x 5 ft. / 1.5 m x 1.5 m, Zone 6) with purple-pink and white flowers, prominent stamens, and bright green pointed foliage. It’s really a pretty picture with mourning widow geranium (Geranium phaeum, Zone 4) massed around it. To make a grouping that would bloom until the end of July, I could add pink and blue balloon flowers, some yellow daylilies, and purple penstemon. These pink deutzias make a useful bridge of flowering shrubs between the peonies of late spring and the full flush of roses in summer. I only wish they had greater cold resistance.